Escape
by sCubed
Summary: Minerva McGonagall is living a very ordinary life in a very ordinary village when she is thrown into an extraordinary world...
1. Owls at the Window

Minerval McGonagall stared pensively out the window, while birds of loneliness made nests in her mind. She watched longingly as a group of her peers laughed comfortably with each other.  
"Ms McGonagall!" snapped the formidable Mr. Hurston. It seemed like he had been calling her name for some time.  
"Yes Mr. Hurston?" she answered, suddenly alert.  
"I have written a letter to your parents describing your impertinent behavior. I expect this to be signed and returned by tomorrow," he ordered as he handed her a scarlet envelope. It weighed heavily in her hand. She knew there was a tirade awaiting her when she delivered it at home.  
As she turned to leave, she heard him mutter, "Owls at the window indeed!"  
But she had seen an owl at the window. Furthermore, it had been carrying a yellow envelope with green writing. It was while she was trying to read the writing that Mr. Hurston had called on her to answer a question. She told him what she had seen, but by then the large, snowy owl had fled. He scoffed and told her to stay after school.  
The rest of the children had dispersed by now. Nothing but a stray cat remained in the empty schoolyard. She pondered on the owl on the walk home. She began to doubt if she had actually seen it. After all, owls were nocturnal. And besides, she doubted if there were any local breeds that had such brilliantly white feathers.  
By the time she reached her front door, she had convinced herself that she had daydreamed the entire scene. That thought perturbed her greatly, since she was the sort of person who always tried to please the teacher.  
With dread, she turned the handle to the front door of the comfortable, two-story house. 


	2. An Extraordinary Day

She cracked the door open. She heard a voice, her father's voice, bellowing at the top of his lungs.  
  
"I will not let her become like one of Them!" he roared.  
  
What is he doing home at this hour? She wondered. She didn't muse long for she heard her father's uneven step coming down the foyer. He jerked the door open as she leaped backwards. His surprise melted into a split second of pity, then set into determination harder than the steel he smelted every day at the factory. He brushed past her and limped down the street back towards the smokestacks.  
  
She stood in puzzlement for a short while, and then stepped gingerly into the house. Her mother was sitting at the dining room table, her eyes fixed on some far-off place. Minerva approached cautiously.  
  
"Ahem," she cleared her throat, "Mother, I have a letter for you from Mr. Sheehan."  
  
She held the letter by its corners and lightly set it in front of her mother. Mrs. McGonagall turned her head slowly.  
  
"Thank you dear. Now why don't you go find yourself a snack in the kitchen?" She asked.  
  
Minerva wanted to ask her why her father had been home, but she could see this was not a good time. She obeyed and had a small snack of toast and jam at the kitchen table.  
  
What a strange day it's been, she pondered between bites. Finishing her snack, she walked back into the dining room and asked her mother if she could walk to the library. Her mother nodded indifferently, still obviously deep in thought. The letter lay untouched on the table.  
  
Minerva breathed in the fresh air. She enjoyed her walks to the library, when she observed others' ordinary happenings. Here, a brother pushed his little sister on a swing. There, the mailman opened up someone's mailbox to find that it was full; the family was on vacation, she knew. Such normal events calmed her a bit and reassured her that the world was still what it had been when she went to bed last night.  
  
Then, the abnormalities started up again. An owl, a smaller one than the last, came flying straight at her. She shrieked and ducked, but the owl dropped a letter on her head. It then reversed and went back in the direction it came from. She got up and looked around, wondering if anyone had seen her odd ordeal. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed.  
  
She walked to the stoop of the family on vacation and sat down to examine the letter she now clutched. The green letters shone on the parchment. She read the words, wiped off her glasses, and read them again. Yes, there was no mistake about it. As plain as day, the words said:  
Ms. M. McGonagall  
11 Cedars Road  
Essex  
Devon  
  
This was just too much for her. She must be going insane. Who did she know that would send an owl to deliver a letter? She turned the letter over and broke the strange-looking seal. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she read. She immediately dropped the letter as if it had burned her hand. Witchcraft! What nonsense. But it did explain some of the strange occurrences of the day. If this witchcraft hokum was true, she was staying far, far away from it. Picking up the letter, she hastily stuffed it under her neighbor's stoop and walked back home where she put the matter completely out of her mind. 


	3. A Saturday Drive

Minerva was sitting in a boat in a lake, surrounded by many other identical boats. The reflected moon broke up into a hundred pieces as a gentle wind disturbed the smooth water. The wind grew stronger and stronger and the boat rocked increasingly violently until.  
  
"Minerva! Minerva!" her mother called softly as she shook her.  
  
Minerva opened her eyes sleepily. It was one of the last Saturdays of her summer holiday. Why was her mother waking her up at the first light of dawn? She mumbled something and rolled back over.  
  
"Come, let's go on a little trip. Just you and I," whispered her mother.  
  
Grudgingly, she fell out of bed and dressed herself, her sleepy brain unable to grasp the significance of the event.  
  
"Quietly now. We don't want to disturb your father," Mrs. McGonagall warned.  
  
They left the house with scarcely a sound. Minerva had inherited her mother's feline aura, her dad often said.  
  
Minerva's mother uncovered the car and turned on the ignition. Minerva climbed in with trepidation. She hadn't ever seen her mother drive the car, her father's baby. She looked around and saw a trunk in the back seat. Where were they going? School was about to start in two weeks and there was just not enough time for a trip that required a suitcase of that magnitude.  
  
"Now don't worry dear, I've seen your father do this hundreds of times," her mother reassured. Somehow, that didn't come across quite as reassuring as she meant it to. Minerva clutched the seat.  
  
With a jerk, they started backwards down the driveway. Her mother turned the steering wheel too much and ended up backing into their lawn.  
  
"Well, that's nothing. I think we're fine from here on out," Mrs. McGonagall said cheerfully. Minerva tightened her grip.  
  
As it turns out, her mother was not too bad of a driver when it came to going forwards, not counting the random stalling at stops and the generous allowances of the other drivers. 4 harrowing hours and one breakfast stop later, they arrived in front of a large country estate. They drove right up to the gates, which opened on their own.  
  
They must be using an electric motor, was Minerva's first thought.  
  
She turned her way this way and that, taking in the sights. The drive was heavily wooded, but she could catch glimpses of the rest of the manor between the trees. She saw the groundskeeper's cottage for a split second. On the other side, there was a large, colorful flower garden. She turned her head the other way and nearly shouted in surprise. For a short time, she could have sworn she saw people on brooms with short bats in their hands. She shook her head and convinced herself that she was hallucinating.  
  
"Mother, what are we doing here?" Minerva asked.  
  
"We're visiting your father's side of the family," her mother replied simply.  
  
Minerva sank in her chair and absorbed that information. Throughout the whole course of her life, she had never met anyone from her father's family. She had asked once but both her parents pretended they hadn't heard her. She had imagined them to be horrible people who had estranged her father for absolutely no reason. She braced herself for the worst.  
  
They finally pulled up to the huge house and stepped out of the car. Minerva hid behind her mother as they walked up the stairs to the front doors. The mansion was several stories high and rambled on for what seemed like miles. The front doors looked to be at least twenty feet tall, made of impressive looking oak and bedecked with strange-looking carvings. The doors swung out before them and a short, rotund old man dressed in black robes nearly ran out.  
  
"Welcome, welcome!" he greeted excitedly, "and you must be Minerva!" He ran up to her, picked her up, and swung her in an arc.  
  
"How good it is to finally see you," he beamed. He then remembered about Mrs. McGonagall.  
  
"Ethel! As radiant as the day we first met, of course," he shook hands with her.  
  
"Oh please, Mr. McGonagall," she blushed.  
  
"Well, you two must be so tired from your drive. Please, give your keys to Ced here and he'll park your car. Follow me and we'll have a regular old feast!" he called back from inside the house.  
  
Minerva took a second to readjust the crumpled portions of her dress. She wasn't sure quite what to think of this man, his strange clothing, and his last name. Perplexed but sure that answers lay inside this house, she hurried after her mother through the great wooden doors. 


End file.
